# Any home brewers here?



## slyder (Mar 17, 2009)

Who here brews there own beer? I havent drank for about 13 years now and have been drinking NA for 3 or so. Kaliber, Buckler, Bitburger Drive and Clasthauler are all ok but not all that. Im been considering brewin my own NA. Ive read on several methods on removing the alcohol like boiling, boiling in the oven, boiling it in a vacuum, and even freezing the beer (alcohol has a lower freezing point than the beer itself). Just wondering if anybody has experimented with this or not. Id also like to hear some tips for a newbie just startin up brewing.


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## rudeJARHEAD (Jul 12, 2009)

I have been known to brew my own beer occasionaly but never have tried to brew a NA beer. My last beers were a Belgian Wit and a IPA but it has been a few years since I fired up the brew pot.


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## piperdown (Jul 19, 2009)

I have been brewing on and off since '95. Past couple of years have seen me brew about 4-6 times a year. I'm not hard core like some I know: guys that have a HERMS system, electronic controls and all that.
I'm not sure how you'd go about removing the alcohol from homebrew though. Boiling would ruin the beer, freezing...not sure how that would work because you usually freeze the fresh beer to remove water therefore increasing the alcohol content....it's called Icehouse beer.
The big boys have highly sophisticated systems for removing alcohol.
I'd say brew a low ABV beer while we're looking at how to remove the rest.
As far as setups go....what do you have (if anything) and whatch wanna know?


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## Bill Brewer (Feb 25, 2009)

I've been brewing for about 2 years now, have done about 4 extract recipes so far and hoping to do a mash pretty soon. I have never done an NA. But have friends who have and they turned out not too bad. Here's how to do it:

Brew a normal batch, have it ferment as you would usually do. 
Boil it in the oven at 180F for about 30 minutes. 
To carbonate, it would be better with a keg system, if you can't go that route, add active yeast and priming sugar.
Dry-hop it to get some of the aromas back.
Alcohol should be under 1%.


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## slyder (Mar 17, 2009)

thanks for the input. I have nothing but pots and pans right now. I have a couple transfer pumps that have been collecting dust. Im fully equipped to build a 3 tiered set up and i probably will go all out cause i never do anything half assed. Ive seen various kits from williams brewing ....should a guy start with something like that or just purchase equipment piece by piece?


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## jrpvr6 (Jul 16, 2009)

i have been homebrewing for 5 years, with one year off here recently. I jumpstarted back into it by brewing 4 batches of beer and making one batch of cider...I just got done drinking one Amber, one brown, and one IIpa, and all i can say is homebrewing is AWESOMEE!!!! woo hoooooo!!!!

My advice:

If you drink NA beer because you dont want to consume much alcohol, homebrewing probably isnt the best hobby, not impossible, but not the best. Even if you decide to brew NA beer you will have to brew an alcoholic beer first and then remove the alcohol from it in some sort of way...Brewing NA beer has not been too popular as far as i know. Now if you could survive by drinking liek a beer with around 3.8% alcohol or so, this is a totally different story. I think you could mike some very fine hooch at this level....THe thing is to make beer yeast ferments the sugars in the wort...and that produces alcohol. I dont know how the big manufacturers make NA brew but homebrewing is a diff story...

NOW...


Dont think you have to have a 3 tier system to make beer. I am a mini masher, that is I dont do full all grain but i typically mash about 4 pounds of grain, including the specialty grains. I have had great success , and I do not think all grain is necessary at all to make good beer. The important things are:

1. Full Boil - I use like 8 gallon pot turkey fryer and start with x>6 gallons water

2. Effecient Wort chilling method- for me immersion chiller

3. Good yeast pitching practice - make yeast starters and use something like pure Oxygen to aereate the wort with

4. Control fermentation temps - shoot for 70 degrees.

5. Let it condition properly. I stand hard and fast by 1 week primary, 3 weeks secondary. By the time you bottle, the beer will not taste green whatsoever and will be delicious as soon as its carbonated.

6. and of course, take care in your cleaning and sanitizing...other than that, brewing is a simple fun hobby that really pays off. Once you have homebrew sitting on hand it is a nice feeling. I like to brew 2 batches at a time and say on a day I have to transfer, Ill brew another batch. This way if Im already cleaning Equipment, I can easily clean the additional for the new batch.

Anyhow, Good luck in your endeavors if you decide to take on this hobby, and please let us know.

Regards,

Homebrewers Holla


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## ekengland07 (May 20, 2009)

Did you ever make the NA beer? I'm a homebrewer and ideas like this intrigue me. Always looking for unique skills for the hobby.


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## Rmac58 (Dec 19, 2008)

I do all extract beer, don't have time for mashing. Doesn't mean I don't use adjuncts. Can't help with NA.


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## shunoshi (Sep 30, 2009)

I'm a homebrewer but have been on hiatus for about 1 1/2 years since I moved into our current apartment (no space). I do have a several small batches of rhubarb wine/mead rolling, but no beer for now. My wife and I just bought a house though, so as soon as I can pick up some kegging equipment, I'll be back at it (partial mashing). I hate bottling. I also plan on switching to all-grain as soon as I can afford to build a nice MLT and get a new brewpot (I'd really like to get a keggle made).

I can't wait to have homebrews stocked up again. They'll go great with my new cigar obsession.


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## ekengland07 (May 20, 2009)

shunoshi said:


> I'm a homebrewer but have been on hiatus for about 1 1/2 years since I moved into our current apartment (no space). I do have a several small batches of rhubarb wine/mead rolling, but no beer for now. My wife and I just bought a house though, so as soon as I can pick up some kegging equipment, I'll be back at it (partial mashing). I hate bottling. I also plan on switching to all-grain as soon as I can afford to build a nice MLT and get a new brewpot (I'd really like to get a keggle made).
> 
> I can't wait to have homebrews stocked up again. They'll go great with my new cigar obsession.


Is it rhubarb wine AND mead or a rhubarb mead? Either way, both sound good. I had a mead I was aging and a buddy tried it and drank about a 1/3-1/2 gallon of it. Guess he liked it. 

I am an all-grain and extract brewer. I go back and forth. Just make sure you build a big enough MLT. Mine is only 5 gallons and I'm limited on what I can do. No barley wines, that's for sure. Anyhow, good luck with getting back into the hobby.

I feel your pain on bottling.


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## shunoshi (Sep 30, 2009)

ekengland07 said:


> Is it rhubarb wine AND mead or a rhubarb mead? Either way, both sound good. I had a mead I was aging and a buddy tried it and drank about a 1/3-1/2 gallon of it. Guess he liked it.
> 
> I am an all-grain and extract brewer. I go back and forth. Just make sure you build a big enough MLT. Mine is only 5 gallons and I'm limited on what I can do. No barley wines, that's for sure. Anyhow, good luck with getting back into the hobby.
> 
> I feel your pain on bottling.


Yeah, I have 1 rhubarb wine, 1 rhubarb mead, and 1 strawberry rhubarb mead. 

I have a small 2 gallon MLT for partial mashing. It works pretty well and was very inexpensive to make. I'll probably be looking at a 10 gallon MLT for all grain.


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## ekengland07 (May 20, 2009)

shunoshi said:


> Yeah, I have 1 rhubarb wine, 1 rhubarb mead, and 1 strawberry rhubarb mead.
> 
> I have a small 2 gallon MLT for partial mashing. It works pretty well and was very inexpensive to make. I'll probably be looking at a 10 gallon MLT for all grain.


Nice! Do you cook the rhubarb? If so, how long/how hot? My 5 gallon MLT is a converted water cooler. Works great for most things, and I think cost me like $30.


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## slyder (Mar 17, 2009)

nope never did make the NA.. Ive been slammin my Kaliber and now Clausthaler Amber. My wife just bought a Beertender so I hope like hell either one of these comes in the little kegs soon.


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## ekengland07 (May 20, 2009)

slyder said:


> nope never did make the NA.. Ive been slammin my Kaliber and now Clausthaler Amber. My wife just bought a Beertender so I hope like hell either one of these comes in the little kegs soon.


Too bad, I was curious how it turned out. I was thinking about it and if you kept it at around 180-190 in your oven, you'd remove most the alcohol. You'd lose some flavor, but it could be done. But since the boiling point of EtOH is 173F, it'd work.


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## slyder (Mar 17, 2009)

yeah most of what ive read said heat it in the oven. I may try a batch with just household pots n pans just to see if it will taste ok. If it works I may invest in some equipment cause I would love to have some good draft beer.


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## ekengland07 (May 20, 2009)

Well if you need anyone to bounce ideas off of, let me know. I have a little knowledge and some friends with far more than me. But if/when you do it, please write about it. I'm definitely interested in hearing how it turns out.


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## shunoshi (Sep 30, 2009)

ekengland07 said:


> Nice! Do you cook the rhubarb? If so, how long/how hot? My 5 gallon MLT is a converted water cooler. Works great for most things, and I think cost me like $30.


Yeah, my 2 gallon is a water cooler as well. :beerchug:

I didn't cook the rhubarb at all. We'll see if that comes back to bite me or not. I washed it, froze it, and thawed it. Then I chopped it up and let it soak in little water for a few days with a some CaCO3 to try and cut down on the oxalic acid. I then strained the fruit and used the remaining juice as the base for all three batches.

All three batches are 1 gallon test batches (this is my first time using rhubarb). I just wanted to try a few recipes to see if any were to my liking before doing a massive harvest next spring for a big batch.


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## ekengland07 (May 20, 2009)

shunoshi said:


> Yeah, my 2 gallon is a water cooler as well. :beerchug:
> 
> I didn't cook the rhubarb at all. We'll see if that comes back to bite me or not. I washed it, froze it, and thawed it. Then I chopped it up and let it soak in little water for a few days with a some CaCO3 to try and cut down on the oxalic acid. I then strained the fruit and used the remaining juice as the base for all three batches.
> 
> All three batches are 1 gallon test batches (this is my first time using rhubarb). I just wanted to try a few recipes to see if any were to my liking before doing a massive harvest next spring for a big batch.


Excellent. I'm a bit test batch guy myself. Working on a 20%+ ABV beer. Trying to get everything ready before doing it. We'll see.


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## Depa (Oct 16, 2009)

Wow, when I first saw this I thought you were talking about software.

I once made several batches of mead. It tastes terrible.

I could pull the recipe if you like, if anything, it's easy to make.


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## ekengland07 (May 20, 2009)

Depa said:


> Wow, when I first saw this I thought you were talking about software.
> 
> I once made several batches of mead. It tastes terrible.
> 
> I could pull the recipe if you like, if anything, it's easy to make.


LOL Thanks for the offer, but I'll stick to my recipe. It's really easy too and drinkable quick.


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## Herf N Turf (Dec 31, 2008)

While I no longer brew, I've brewed hundreds of batches in the past. A few tricks I learned:

It's all about speed. Dropping your wort temp as fast as you can is crucial. Get it <70 as qickly as possible. Use a copper-coil immersion chiller and stir. I could drop my temp in 15min.

Never use dry yeast from a brew store. Befriend a brewmeister at your local brew pub. Ask him for "slurry". There are millions of times more yeast in an oz of slurry than in a case of dry packets. Not only that, but they are pissed off! This will get you into a royaling ferment in a matter of hours, as opposed to days for propogated yeast. Be sure you take a sterile jar in a plastic bag with you. This will tell the brewmeister that you know what youre doing and that your container isn't going to infect his room. He will like you even better if you have iodine solution in the jar when you hand it to him. He will rinse it for you.

STERILIZATION is KEY. Never use chlorine. It takes 20min for chlorine to do anything and hours of rinsing to get it off. Sterilize everything you can get into it, in the dishwasher. For the stuff you cant, use reagent iodine. Iodine is harmless to injest in small quantities, works on contact, and is easily removed in one rinse. Do your bottles in the dishwasher and siphon and cap next to that. Keep your caps in a dilution of iodine and remove as you cap. Never use dishwasher detergent, as it contains chlorine. Instead, a few drops of reagent iodine will hedge your bets against any waterborn bacteria.

Before you drink, allow beer to rest in the freezer for about 20min. Cold causes rapid precipitation of any remaining sediment and leaves you a very hard deposit in the bottom. Your beer will be as crystal clear as any commercial/filtered product. I also hit it with Irish Moss in order to promote sedimentation. I could literally invert a 20oz Newcastle bottle to decant to a pitcher and never disturb the sediment layer! Always decant if possible and never pour a partial bottle.

Taste your grains. I used to go into the brew store and literally blend my beers on the spot. I few grains of black, a few grains of chocolate, a few pale... chew them up and create your recipe.

Never use pellet hops. Get a bag and go for the buds.

Hope this helps.


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